The idea that religions originated with the ritual use of visionary,
i.e. psychoactive, plants is not a new one. This has been
demonstrated in many cultures. The use of peyote (a cactus), psilocybin
mushrooms or DMT-containing plants is wide-spread in the Americas.
Hindu texts describe “soma”, a plant-based entheogenic drink. Some
African tribes employ the roots of the Tabernanthe iboga shrub. And the
blue lotus, depicted in ancient Egyptian wall paintings, has been proved
to be psychoactive and I am sure it was used for spiritual purposes.
In his book “The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the
Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the
Ancient Near East”, John Allegro, one of the translators of the
scrolls found at Qumran, advanced the thesis that the religions of the
Middle East were ultimately based on shamanic practices, utilizing
plants as a source of communion with God. Publication of such a
controversial thesis in the 70s was a courageous act. He brought upon
himself the ire of every insufferable know-it-all scholar and every
insufferable Bible-thumping ignoramus. He paid a high price: it ended
his career.
At the heart of Allegro’s thesis is the fly-agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). I do not think it very likely that this
species of mushroom would have played a significant role seeing that its
natural habitat is circumpolar and that it is almost always associated
with pine trees: it would therefore have been rather bare in the Middle
East. There were then and are now more likely candidates; all of them
widely available in Southern Europe, North Africa and the Near East and I
will look at just a very small selection.
Solanaceae: Let us start with the episode of the “burning bush”. In the Midrash
(a collection of Jewish legends) the burning bush was identified as a
rose bush. The significance of this reference is supposed to be that
while the Jewish people may be as difficult as thorns, there
nevertheless are “roses” among them. Fanciful nonsense! There is a much simpler explanation. When Moses saw the “burning
bush” he was quite possibly under the influence of a visionary
substance. There is one widely distributed plant that fits the bill: Datura stramonium
or “thorn apple”! It will produce splendid visions, yes, but also lead
to hot, dry skin while at the same time the ability to sweat is
reduced. Voila, you have a build-up of inner heat experienced as the
sensation of burning. Perhaps it was Moses that was burning and not the
bush??? The plant thrives in the arid conditions of the Near East and
while herding sheep for his Midianite father-in-law he would no doubt
have come across it and would have been familiar with its visionary
properties.
Datura: The datura is a member of the solanaceae (nightshade) plant family to which various species of henbane and mandrake
also belong. Both henbane and mandrake have the same constituents as
datura, albeit in different proportions; they are less toxic but have
the same effects as the datura. The mandrake is mentioned twice in the Bible (cf. Genesis 30:14). The
traditional view is that mandrakes were an ancient folk remedy to help
barren women conceive. While mandrakes do not contain to our knowledge
any fertility-enhancing constituents they do have, if used judiciously,
aphrodisiac, euphoriant and relaxant effects that can aid in conceiving
as barrenness is frequently a result of psychosexual factors. Song of Songs 7:12-13: The ‘Song of Songs” is a sensuous love poem and the connection with the mandrake is impossible to miss:
Let us go early to the vineyards
To see if the vines have budded
If their blossoms have opened,
And if the pomegranates are in bloom
There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes send out their fragrance
And at our door is every delicacy
Both new and old
That I have stored up for you, my beloved.
Even such an unlikely place as the Western Wall in Jerusalem is home
to a variety of flora. You will find there Ephedra, which produces
ephedrine, a stimulant, and the goldenhenbane, compared
by the Jewish historian Josephus to the head-gear of the high priest.
Why would the tiara of the High Priest be designed to look like the seed
capsule of the henbane? Accident? I do not think so.
DMT and Peganum harmala (also known as Syrian rue): Benny Shanon, Professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has written an article for "Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture"in which he speculates on the use of DMT-containing species of acacia in combination with Peganumharmala to yield the equivalent of the Amazonion “magic potion” ayahuasca,
a drink that will produce truly awe-inspiring visions. The acacia is
frequently mentioned in the Bible. Shanon’s thesis is that Moses had
knowledge of its psychoactivity and made use of it.
It is beyond the scope of this article to go into the details of
chemistry. I’ll leave it to the interested reader to pursue this
further. Suffice it to say that for oral administration to work it is
absolutely essential that two ingredients be present: a) DMT,supplied by the acacia although it also is present in many other plants and b) a MAO inhibitor, supplied by the Peganum harmala. Even if Moses did not know that both ingredients had to be present
for oral ingestion this does not rule out DMT as the source of visions.
It is quite effective on its own if the material that contains it is
smoked. Peganum harmala, too, can work either smoked – in fact it is
used as an incense – or brewed into a tea.
Frankincense and Myrrh: Frankincense and myrrh were both used in all ancient civilisations as
a perfume, incense and in medicine. Frankincense and myrrh were
precious; they were gifts fit for a king! Think of the gifts offered to
baby Jesus! Furthermore, a convict led to execution was given
frankincense or myrrh mixed into a cup of wine, numbing his senses so as
not to suffer pain. The women of Jerusalem donated the frankincense,
myrrh and wine to the court. When they were not donated, they were
purchased from public funds (Sanhedrin 43a). Think of the cup that was
offered to Jesus (although he refused to accept it)! Modern science shows us that frankincense has the ability to increase
oxygen around the pineal gland, thereby stimulating the pineal gland
through which we communicate spiritually. A recent study conducted at
Hebrew University noted frankincense smoke contained the psychoactive
substance incensoleacetate that relieved depression and anxiety (Moussaieff et al., 2008). Myrrh, taken internally – if you can stomach the extremely bitter
taste - has very strong narcotic properties. It induces a state of
consciousness which partakes of both wakefulness and dreaming. You are
here and at the same time you are …. well, somewhere else. I can
personally vouch for its efficacy as an aid in meditation and a tool for
consciousness and dream enhancement.
In Conclusion: The fact is: humans are
hard-wired to seek altered states of consciousness. We have a hunger
for them. For that reason alone the “War on Drugs” is unwinnable.
Consider the length to which some will go to attain such states: long
periods of fasting or sleep deprivation, retreating for years into
deserts or mountains to meditate, breathing techniques that border on
asphyxiation, flagellation or other pain-producing techniques, extreme
physical exercises and so on and so forth. Such techniques have been
practiced since time immemorial. Often they require years of strenuous
and focused effort and you have no guarantee that you will succeed.
Furthermore, they are not without risk to life and limb or health!
Psychedelics, on the other hand, if used wisely, will yield results in a
much shorter time and without having to push body and mind to punishing
and dangerous extremes.
It was Timothy Leary who coined the slogan: Turn On – Tune In – Drop Out. Turn on means: take a psychedelic. Tune In means: look inward and rediscover your true self. Drop Out means: abandon your submission to reality as defined for you by others – stay tuned in! It does not mean to drop out of life and society!
We know that the
Ancients had knowledge of and access to the plant material described
above and a lot more besides. They certainly made use of most of them
for medicinal purposes. Did they also use them for their psychotropic
effects? Why would we think that they were different from us? Why would
we think that they did not use nature’s gifts? Only modern man is at
war with the natural world.
Of course, the notion that Moses might have been a shaman is anathema
to the traditionalists. In their view this reduces the perceived
“greatness” of their prophet and the “glory and splendour” of their god
to the level of a mere hallucination, created by none other than Satan
to mislead man. That’s why consciousnes-expanding visionary substances
are demonized and outlawed. Naturally, the mind controllers that
presume to rule us are quite happy to allow a dangerous drug like
alcohol. Why? Because it does not open the mind – quite the contrary!
Therefore it presents absolutely no challenge and poses no threat to the
consensus reality they have imposed upon us. To those nay-sayers who preach against the evils of “drugs” I say
this: you need to distinguish drugs from visionary substances. Opium,
for instance, is a medicine and a visionary substance – heroin is a
drug!Coca is an essentialmedicine in the mountains of the Andes! But cocaine is a drug!
Unless you have experienced an altered state of consciousness,
brought about by a visionary substance, ingested in a safe setting
conducive to meditation, with the proper intent and, ideally, under the
guidance of an experienced teacher, you do not know what you are talking
about, no matter what you think your qualifications are. What you
really need to do is to Shut Up – Turn On – Tune In - Drop Out! Then we can talk! You have the right to your own opinions but you have no right to impose your benighted views on anyone!
London Real is an excellent UK-based podcast with some great episodes covering one of my favorite topics, entheogens. Check out their most recent show above where co-host Nic Gabriel tells the story of his life-changing Mayan calendar-ending Peruivian Ayahuasca adventure.
Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me share Spiritual Science on their emails, twitters and facebooks! Also a special thanks to the 22 of you who have already purchased a copy. I really want to share this empowering and enlightening book on a mass scale. If it were to become a best-seller I truly believe Spiritual Science would spark a flame of metaphysical consciousness that would absolutely change the world for the better. (Note: It's possible that I have a slight bias on this matter, but that does not dissuade my conclusions :) The positive comments, feedback and reviews you've all given are really encouraging and appreciated.
"I have the pleasure of knowing Eric personally. He has been teaching me Wing Chun and Yoga for about nine months now. He has shared with me some very empowering knowledge not least in regard to diet and exercise. I have been lucky enough to get a copy of his latest book 'Spiritual Science'. It is a fantastic distillation of wisdom; a complex interweaving of knowledge pertaining to what it really means to be human in this inhumane age. I thank him for sharing his work and recommend both the book and a juicer(!) to those of us determined to become beyond the veil. Make that energy exchange and order the book! It is wide-ranging and erudite, not to mention as exciting, as the 'Golden Bough' was in its day. Thanks Eric!" ~Shane
"I am on Morphogenic Fields in your book 'Spiritual Science'. Have to say it is the best book I have ever read. It compiles everything worth knowing about life and the universe. You did a tremendous job and I can't wait to read the second half of the book! I'm going to become a millionaire one day and I am definitely going to pay you back for all the wisdom you have bestowed upon me." ~Joe
"Good luck with the book I think you've done a very good job in all chapters. I enjoyed reading it all and will definitely revisit it. I'm keen to follow up several of the topics in my own research now. I had already come across the curious ability of consciousness affecting otherwise random events and the effects also in quantum theory, this is an ever interesting area. The book had a nice personal feel with the references and personal stories from you and the Mrs. which was very nice. I was also flattered to see my own ramblings in there, thanks for seeing them as valuable to the project. I took one major lesson from the book too, apart from good enlightening words on the holographic mind/universe to mull over and research more I have also decided to open up more of my time to traveling out of my body. Oh and another thing, I've done this since I was young but your book made me try again but more scientifically. I hit people with stares from behind and keep tally on my fingers (left fingers for fail, right for success) as to whether they react. I've found a short direct hit is more powerful than a long stare. Anyway, well done on the book and good luck!" ~Tao Wow
"Eric, I only have great admiration of you as a "human -actively - being " !!! I have read all your works and books and I admire you for all your hard work exposing the 'lie.' I place and rate you at the very top of the list of truth-searchers in the world. I have learned a great deal from you and I know this book will be even greater than your other bestsellers or eye-openers !!! Wisdom & truth are rarely found together, Eric you succeed in achieving this! Thanx for exposing most of the religious lies, the real evil rulers of this world and for staying strong .. May your efforts not only gain strength but gain even more momentum and the worldwide recognition that it deserves !!! Thanx for adding this new "revelation" to your superb library or I should say to your works of pride, and may this new book proudly take its place next to "The Atlantean Conspiracy" and "Asbestos Head" ... Together they cause other books to become "pale" when compared !! Much peace to you and your life partner friend and love may you guys be eternally happy." ~Robbie
My new book, Spiritual Science, almost three years in the making, is finally finished and for sale on Lulu and Amazon. Spiritual Science is 284 pages of paradigm-shattering science and
mind-expanding spirituality that dares to ask and answer some of the biggest questions facing humanity: Who are we? What are we doing here? What is the purpose and meaning of life? What happens when we die? Do we have souls? Do we reincarnate? Does God exist? Is consciousness primary? Is the material world an illusion? Are we all One? And what would that mean? Spiritual Science explores and answers these and many more questions covering a wide-range of topics including quantum physics,
consciousness, synchronicity, the holographic universe, morphic fields,
the human energy body, psychoneuroimmunology, life force energy, the
chakra and meridian systems, acupuncture, qigong, pranayama, the power of prayer, auras, psi
science, telepathy, psychokinesis, clairvoyance, remote viewing,
precognition, out of body experiences, near death experiences,
entheogens, death, ghosts, reincarnation, God, Oneness and much more. I personally read over 150 books and spent hundreds of hours researching and writing to complete this one-of-a-kind metaphysical treatise. I'm really excited about and proud of this book and confident that you will feel the same.
Ever since I could hold a pencil I've had a passion for writing. At 5 years old I was already writing a journal and short stories, telling everyone that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. Throughout my teens I was constantly writing short stories and poetry, then in college completed a double Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and English with a creative writing focus. After college I moved to Thailand, began teaching English and wrote my first two full-length books. In 2007 upon completing The Atlantean Conspiracy and Asbestos Head I
spent many months and hundreds of dollars sending samples to over 200
publishing companies and literary agents attempting to get my work
published and mass distributed through the usual corporate channels. Can you
guess how many of the 200+ sent back a positive response? Most
didn't even bother to write back, and the few who did, while expressing
platitudes of interest and sympathy, ultimately refused. In the end, not a single
publishing house, nor a single literary agent was willing to take on
either book! Considering the subject matter, I can't say I was surprised.
Due to my passion for writing and my zeal for exposing and disseminating this important empowering information, in 2008 I created Atlantean Conspiracy.com and decided to give away The Atlantean Conspiracy and Asbestos Head for free. The Atlantean Conspiracy became an instant hit online and has to date been downloaded over 500,000 times! Asbestos Head hasn't been as successful with about 30,000 downloads, but still not shabby for a relatively unknown, self-published author. For quite a while I naively thought that with so many downloads hopefully a significant number of people would support me by buying a paperback copy. After 530,000+ free downloads can you guess how many copies have been purchased? To date I have sold exactly 260. Now I'm not saying this to complain, but rather to explain why I will not be offering my new book for free like the others... yet. Instead I've decided to set a target goal first. My modest intention is to sell 10,000 copies of Spiritual Science and if you all help me to meet this goal then I promise to make it available to all for free thenceforth. Compared to the number of downloads my other books have received, this 10,000 target seems very low, but compared to my actual sales history, it could prove to be a lofty goal.
My girlfriend First on Fire and I recently got engaged and will be getting married next year when my parents come to visit Thailand. At the moment we are saving up for the wedding and to buy a small piece of land up-country where we can build our dream yurt and garden our own fruits and vegetables. At the moment (for years), however, we have been stuck in busy bleak Bangkok living in a tiny 8m x 4m studio apartment working paycheck-to-paycheck wage-slave jobs scrimping and saving for our envisioned great escape back to nature. With your help, my target of 10,000 books sold would completely pay for our wedding, facilitate our move out of the city, and allow us to finally quit our jobs! I'd like to quit teaching English and focus totally on my writing and Wing Chun training. First would like to quit her job and also focus on her writing and starting up an organic cosmetics business.
Thanks to everyone who has supported us thus far. We have set high intentions and we're working hard to manifest better lifestyles and a better world to live in. I have overcome many obstacles and threats, put countless thousands of hours into my activism and vowed never to stop. Atlantean Conspiracy receives several thousand hits every day and is one of very few websites on the forefront of the conscious awakening dedicated to exposing the global conspiracy. In fact AC was recently ranked 7 on a Ranker.com Top 50 Conspiracy Blogs survey. With your continued support I promise to keep expanding my enterprise bringing little-known information to light and helping empower people with wisdom. Thanks again and in advance for your support, and as always if I can be of service in any way email me at: ericdubay@hotmail.com
In this clip Aubrey Marcus talks on the Joe Rogan podcast about his incredible experience on the African entheogen called Iboga. They compare and contrast Iboga with Ayahuasca/DMT and discuss the future of humanity and the nature of the universe.
My favorite comedian discussing one of my favorite subjects. Does everybody agree with Bill? If you don't then "just shut up and smoke that! ... it's the law."
When used properly in positive settings and in correct doses, so-called "magic" mushrooms have proven to have lasting spiritual and health benefits. I say this from personal experience as well as documented scientific research:
Taking just the right amount of a substance found in "magic mushrooms" can help to positively improve attitude, mood, behavior, and happiness levels, according to new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., determined that psilocybin, a psychedelic substance found in certain mushrooms, can help improve a person's general well-being for up to a year after taking it -- and it allegedly does not cause any known negative side effects Natural News.com Article
Steve Wilner at the Labyrinth of the Psychonaut blog has a great YouTube channel called Soundless Dawn full of trippy, interesting, artistic, mind-expanding videos including these most recent shown above.
A couple of years ago I read and thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Rick Strassman's clinical research on DMT in his book, DMT - The Spirit Molecule. This week I had the pleasure of watching Strassman's new documentary of the same name. The book is certainly much more in-depth, but the documentary is a great and informative introduction to the subject. Parts 1 and 2 above, here are parts 3, 4, and 5.
Thanks to Ant for recommending this excellent work by Roger Stephens, "A Dangerous Book," which covers almost every subject I delve into on this website:
Since we take our own egos so seriously, we take everyone else's seriously as well. We have become convinced that these egos are real and are who and what we really are. We learn to take things personally: we get angry whenever our egos are questioned or misunderstood, and we get disappointed when other egos turn out to be something other than what our egos thought they were. Based on a false understanding of the players, the dynamics of human interaction quickly become bewildering and frustrating, giving rise to whole generations of psychologists, counselors, and advisors to provide our egos with excuses for why things are not right in our lives.(12)
Consciousness
With my index finger, I can touch lots of things--the keys on my computer, my nose, and so on. I can do this only because these things are not the tip of my finger. The one thing I cannot touch with the tip of my finger is the tip of my finger. In the same way, I can touch, look at, or perceive many things with my consciousness: I can objectify my surroundings, my fingertip, my thoughts, even who I think I am (my ego). I can do all this because these things are not my consciousness. I cannot, however, objectify that same consciousness which is aware of these things. It is, as Alan Watts once remarked, like trying to bite your own teeth or sniff your own nose. We can't be aware of consciousness in the same way we are aware of the objects of consciousness, just like we can't be aware of our fingertips in the same way as we are aware of the things we touch with our fingertips. Consciousness can never be made the object of its own inquiry because it is beyond the polarity of objectivity and subjectivity.(20)
Spirituality
Here's a parable, an analogy, which comes from India, from the Upanishads, and is thousands of years old. It presents a parabolic answer to the root question of all religion and philosophy (Who am I and what is this?), and does so in a way which everyone can relate to. In the beginning of the world (and though it probably had no ultimate "beginning" as we think of them, you have to start somewhere), there was only Brahma. Being all there was, and therefore totally known to himself, Brahma soon realized that this totality of awareness would eventually become extremely boring . . . after all, when you know everything there is to know, then there's no surprise, nothing to keep you interested. It's like reading the same book for the seventy-eight millionth time. Anyway, since he was omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (all-everywhere), Brahma decided to create a diversion for himself, a way of introducing the elements of surprise, intrigue and drama into his experience. He thought, "What would it be like to forget who I really am?" So, he invented the game of cosmic hide-and-seek. According to the rules of this game, Brahma would pretend to break pieces of himself off from the whole so that to all appearances they would seem separate. That's the "hide" part. Then, as the apparently separate consciousness at the center of each of those apparently separate pieces, and through their apparently separate and unique perspectives, he would "seek" to rediscover who he really was, which was, of course, everything. Imagine seeing yourself from an infinite number of different perspectives, each one initially ignorant of its relationship to all the rest. Imagine going to sleep and dreaming a different lifetime each night, each lasting for more or less years, each complete with the full range and variety of emotional life and death details. Imagine having the same dream but playing a different role in it each night, seeing it through different eyes each time. Well, guess who those apparently separate pieces are? Since there is only one I Am in the universe, one consciousness, it's all a game of hide-and-seek, and each one of us is in the same state: I'm IT AND You're IT! (22-23)
After I shook the dust of organized religion from my sandals, I learned that the link between big 'ol God and little 'ol me was no more and no less than consciousness. And each of us, at and as the very center of us, have this same feeling of I Am, for the not-so-obvious reason that each one of us is really God (Brahma) pretending to be each one of us. There is only one I Am, there is only one God, one Brahma, one Tao, one beingness ... we both see the same world, because we both are the same world. But we have so cleverly and convincingly hidden ourselves from ourselves that we really believe that we are separate entities. That's the hide part of hide-and-seek. Humanity has become hide-bound.(56)
Happiness
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
-Henry David Thoreau
Most adults suffer a dull, indistinct unhappiness which is so habitual that it has become inseparable from their daily lives, however they may smile to mask it. They have been talked out of themselves. From the earliest age they have been brainwashed into the belief that as they were born, and as who they were born, they aren't good enough, that they must continually prove their worth, that their bodies are fallible and liable to disease, that their passions are unnaturally sinful and must be harnessed and suppressed, that their duty is to serve the aims of the majority. Down deep, they are convinced that they aren't good enough. Their consciousness started out cosmic, attuned to the oneness of all existence, but has since been pared down to a strictly utilitarian fraction of its totality. That naturally universal attunement has been filtered and reduced to a trickle, which is then called normal or ordinary consciousness. After decades of propaganda and worldly and/or other worldly teachings, the vast majority of adults have resigned themselves to trying endlessly to be what they are not, and the frustration they quite naturally feel is expressed as fear, hatred, intolerance, greed, and all of the other social maladies we see around us. Look at almost anyone when they don't know they are being watched, when they are not performing . . . what sort of a face are they wearing, what does their expression convey about their prevailing thoughts? Their faces cannot help but mirror how they feel about themselves. Even professional actors cannot maintain a false persona indefinitely, and habitual worry lines are telling.(32)
We all want to be happy. We all want to recreate the state we existed in when we first arrived here, we all remember the feel of it, even though we may not be able to recall the details. Having been kicked out of the garden, we spend the rest of our lives trying to get back in, and having been talked out of our true purposes in life, we have little alternative but to try our best to recreate that happiness from the paltry tools available through religion, or power, or worldly possessions. But happiness is not a commodity, it is not a noun. Neither is real happiness a state of mind, because happiness is, eternally, while the mind can deal only with things temporal. The words "happy" and "happen" both come from the same root, and for a good reason: happiness happens when we have gotten out from behind the yearnings and frustrations of the mind, which keeps it hidden from us. Happiness is not conditional on circumstance, because happiness eternally is, while circumstances come and go. When you base your happiness on the right job, or the right mate, or having lots of money, then you are as much as saying that your happiness depends on things you once didn't have and which you one day will again not have. That may be called pleasure, but it is not happiness. Nothing that can be taken away from you is yours, including your possessions, your reputation, your body, even your mind. None of these is the source of true happiness.(82)
Meditation
Meditation, as both a practice and a way of life, has emerged in recent times to offer a workable, if not vital alternative to people who are fed up with living frantic, anxious lives, and who have found no solace in the worn out mantras of organized religion. Meditation is a way to get reconnected with who you really are and what you are really here to do and be. Meditation is like catching a glimpse of the backstage props to remind you that the play is really a play, that the so-called worldly realities are also part of the play, and that you are really the actor, not the role. For only then will you be able to play your role, to dance it instead of working it to death.(57)
Therefore, meditation, as a practice, presents us with a very curious problem. It is not an end in itself, but more of a means, a reconditioning which allows us to really live, sort of a process of retuning ourselves. An orchestra in which all the players are out of tune is a cacophony, not a symphony; being in tune is essential to harmony. But neither would we think much of an orchestra in which the players spent all their time just tuning up; they are tuning up so that they can play in tune. If you practice meditation for its own sake, as an end in itself, and unless your meditation serves merely to clear the screens, then you never end up playing anything. You become a meditation junkie. Meditation doesn't get you anywhere; it shows you where you are. And in this sense, meditation is medicinal, not dietary. Its only purpose is to get you back in tune when you are out of tune. When you are stressed out, and can remember that being stressed out is not what you are here to experience, then meditation is very helpful in getting you back to your center, back to the point where you realize that you are not your thoughts, you are not your ego; you are that which is conscious of these things.(60)
Entheogens
Although you won't hear it in public very often, and certainly not from organized religions, recreational medicines make available certain perspectives and descriptions of life behind the veil which are uncannily similar to those recorded by mystics and prophets from all cultures, from the Tibetans and the Taoists to the early Christian mystics and nearly all indigenous cultures, descriptions which are far too similar to be dismissed out of hand. The mystical state is the direct experience of reality without the filtering and objectifying processes of the socialized mind getting in the way. While this state seems to be available to the devotees only after years of meditation and/or other rigorous ascetic practices, it is becoming clear that there are other paths up that particular mountain. How do we get beyond the curtain of maya ? What might we find if ever we should momentarily slip into an altered state of awareness. (104)
Terrence McKenna's wisdom on the subjects of culture, art, and shamanism. Above is "Culture is Your Operating System," below is "Culture is Not Your Friend."
Merry Mushrooms 2009 everyone! If you haven't already done so, please read this article first, Santa Claus the Magic Mushroom
For Siberian reindeer, Amanita magic mushrooms are their favorite food. Watch this excellent 2 minute clip to give you a better idea of how this mushroom mythology originated.
This video, The Hidden Mysteries of Christmas, goes in depth into the Magic Mushroom/Astrotheological origins of Christmas traditions.
This is a fun video with Christmas music, showcasing the various mushrooms symbology hidden in Christmas traditions.
At the heart of Allegro’s thesis is the fly-agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). I do not think it very likely that this
species of mushroom would have played a significant role seeing that its
natural habitat is circumpolar and that it is almost always associated
with pine trees: it would therefore have been rather bare in the Middle
East. There were then and are now more likely candidates; all of them
widely available in Southern Europe, North Africa and the Near East and I
will look at just a very small selection.
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